Troubled Teens and Online Radicalization
A deeper look into the unmet needs of adolescents seeking answers online.
Posted September 19, 2025 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods
While you're reading this article, there's probably a kid in your community googling "school shooter manifestos." The question isn't whether they'll find them. They will. The question is why they're looking.
In the aftermath of the September 10, 2025, shooting at Evergreen High School, media coverage has fixated on 16-year-old Desmond Holly's " online radicalization ." Yes, Holly engaged with horrific sites like WatchPeopleDie. Yes, he studied previous shooters. But focusing on where he went online misses the crucial question: what was he searching for?
The Psychological Archaeology of a Search
When a teenager types "mass shooter" into a search bar, they're rarely looking for tactical information, at least not initially. They're looking for answers to questions they can't express anywhere else:
The Journey From Pain to Planning
While we don't know Holly's specific search history, threat assessment research reveals how online behavior typically evolves in similar cases. Based on patterns identified across multiple threat assessment studies, individuals often progress through recognizable stages:
Holly joined WatchPeopleDie sometime between two school shootings—December 16 and January 22. This timing suggests he was already beyond mere curiosity, actively studying recent cases for practical knowledge.
What These Sites Provide
Understanding why teens seek out violent content requires recognizing what these digital spaces offer that real life doesn't:
The Timeline That Tells
Research shows that most mass shooters begin actively planning one to five months ahead of their attacks. The FBI's comprehensive study of 63 active shooters found observable concerning behaviors in the weeks and months before attacks⁴. Holly's digital footprint— joining WatchPeopleDie in the weeks between two other school shootings—aligns with these documented patterns of pre-attack behavior.
The real question isn't why Holly found WatchPeopleDie. It's why a 16-year-old had such profound psychological needs that a community celebrating death felt like home.
Beyond the Digital Scapegoat
Blaming online radicalization is comfortable because it suggests simple solutions: better content moderation, age verification, site shutdowns. But this misunderstands both the problem and the population.
Teens seeking violent content aren't passive victims of algorithms. They're active seekers driven by unmet psychological needs:
These needs exist before the first search. They'll persist after the last site shutdown.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Every community has its Desmond Hollys, teens nursing private grievances, accumulating pain, searching for answers. They're not created by websites. They're created by:
When we focus exclusively on the "radicalization" narrative, we're looking at the final chapter while ignoring the preceding volumes.
Watch People Die administrators said in an email that Holly lied about his age in order to access the site and was not a very active user of it, with only seven comments. Whether that’s true or not, shutting down every gore site tomorrow wouldn't prevent the next shooting. It would just change where the shooter does their research. Instagram . Discord. Archive sites. The dark web. You cannot eliminate keys when locks are desperately searching for them.
The real question is: what are we offering these kids that's more compelling than what they find in the dark corners of the internet?
Until we answer that question—until we provide real solutions for connection, purpose, identity, and understanding—we'll keep producing young people whose psychological needs are so profound that communities celebrating death feel like home. And we'll keep being shocked when they act on what they learn there, even though the signs were there all along, hidden in plain sight in their search history.
The lock and the key remind us: we can't key-proof the world. But we can help young people feel less locked out of it in the first place.
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Joni E. Johnston , Psy.D , is a clinical/forensic psychologist, private investigator, author, and host of the YouTube channel and podcast "Unmasking a Murderer."
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.